Austin Mayor Steve Adler, who was also named as a defendant in the suit, said he was glad the issue was heading to court. "But legal immigration is different from harboring people who have committed risky crimes".

The most controversial aspect of SB4 protects police officers who ask about citizenship - even during routine traffic stops. Sylvia Garcia, D-Houston, expressed fear that this legislation would "lead to the harassment and profiling of Latinos". Not only is this law morally wrong, it will strain our law enforcement and make our communities more unsafe.

"They did not connect the history of our culture or how closely that it is tied to Mexico", the Democratic state representative Eddie Rodriguez said.

"These types of measures further criminalize the immigration phenomenon, promote racism and reduce collaboration between migrant communities and local authorities", the Mexican foreign ministry added.

The law requires local officials to carry out federal requests to hold criminal suspects for possible deportation and threatens sheriffs with arrest if they refuse to cooperate with federal authorities.

Republicans in the state legislature passed the legislation, although Democrats protested it.

The law also imposes penalties on law enforcement officers, agencies and other state institutions that fail to comply with the law. "I think it was necessary to declare to the world what the law is and that we are going to enforce it".

The new law is expected to face legal challenges.

The city has had a "safe haven" ordinance since 1999 that prohibits city employees from asking about a person's immigration status, according to lawsuit, which LULAC attorney Luis Vera said was filed in federal court Monday.

"[The bill] ensures that law enforcement officers in Texas can and will cooperate with ICE".

Attorney General Ken Paxton is looking to get ahead of an anticipated barrage of legal challenges to Texas' ban on "sanctuary cities", which takes effect September 1. "If a Texas sheriff or other law enforcement authority can not lawfully honor an ICE detainer, unsafe people will slip through the cracks of the justice system and back into our communities". Hernandez softened her policy after Abbott cut funding to the county, saying decisions would be made on a case-by-case basis.

"MALDEF will do its level best, in court and out, to restore Texas, the state where MALDEF was founded, to its greater glory, and to help Texas to overcome 'Abbott's Folly, '" said MALDEF president and general counsel Thomas A. Saenz.

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